Answer to Question 1
An ideal response will:
1. Compare hard and soft power, noting that both are foreign policy approaches used to influence other nations.
2. Contrast hard power with soft power, nothing that hard power relies on a country's strength to resolve conflict, while soft power relies on diplomacy and negotiation to resolve conflict.
3. Provide an example of hard power, such as military force or economic sanctions.
4. Provide an example of soft power, such as conventional diplomacy, public diplomacy, or foreign aid.
Answer to Question 2
An ideal response will:
1. Note that the United States has had a long history of working to secure peace in the Middle East, particularly between Israel and its neighbors, partly because the Middle East is an important source of the world's oil and partly because Israel is an ally.
2. Provide an example of how soft power has been used in the Middle East, such as through foreign aid given to countries like Israel and Egypt that are important to national security or through diplomacy like the agreement called The Road Map to Peace that was signed by the United States, Israel, and most Arab nations.
3. Explain that Iran has complicated the situation in recent years with its development of weapons of mass destruction, such as biological weapons that spread disease or poisons, although its development of nuclear weapons has become the primary concern.
4. Discuss how the United States has used both economic sanctions and public diplomacy, through which it has tried to convince the people of Iran that its leader is moving the nation toward war, but as of 2014 neither approach had been very successful.
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